‘Where will we go?’: Uncertainty, distrust shroud clearing of homeless encampment at San Jose’s Columbus Park

Amid the throng of RVs lined up around San Jose s Columbus Park brown paper signs draped on vehicles along Asbury Street read Where do we go and Where will we go Related Articles Opinion San Jose must ditch its high-density rules to get more housing built Another Bay Area city bans homeless encampments President Trump s executive order on homelessness echoes Gov Newsom s a year before Federal and state cuts have complicated how Alameda County will use Measure W funds to backing safety net services Berkeley s Homeless Response Band has room for improvement audit finds The questions are popular refrains among the hundreds of unhoused residents who will continue to call the park home for the next inadequate weeks before the city of San Jose moves forward with clearing the massive encampment just south of the airport on Aug as part of its plans to revitalize it in early after years of deterioration For a large number of residents at the park the looming sweep comes with dread frustration and feelings of resentment over broken promises They fear being forgotten as they remember the city s last attempt to clear the park The last time they had the sweep was two years ago and they just watched the RV vehicles get crushed declared -year-old Katherine Davis who has lived in Columbus Park for the past six years and is considered by multiple there to be its unofficial mayor We need a explanation and we need help with everything we are going through right now We need housing Katherine Davis speaks near Columbus Park in San Jose on Tuesday July Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group In April general personnel reported plans to fill a large section of the park with soccer fields horseshoe pits and pickleball futsal and basketball courts restoring it to its intended purpose as a source of recreation At the time San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan also noted the masses safety impacts from the encampment which had generated priority-one calls over three years including in the first quarter of Those wellness and inhabitants safety concerns only grew worse in the following weeks when the park saw numerous fires including a -acre blaze that came within about yards of the encampment Between July and June the zone encompassing Columbus Park just north of Taylor Street saw non-medical calls for incidents like vegetation trash and automobile fires hazardous materials responses and smoke investigations according to Jake Pisani a population information manager at the San Jose Fire Department Over the same period Pisani commented the area south of Taylor Street saw of those types of calls Vehicles at Columbus Park in San Jose Calif on Tuesday July Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group An RV is parked along Asbury Street near Columbus Park in San Jose Calif on Tuesday July Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group An RV is parked along Asbury Street near Columbus Park in San Jose Calif on Tuesday July Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group An RV is parked along Asbury Street near Columbus Park in San Jose Calif on Tuesday July Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group RV s are parked along Asbury Street next to Columbus Park in San Jose Calif on Tuesday July Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group Katherine Davis rides her bike along Asbury Street near Columbus Park in San Jose Calif on Tuesday July Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group Show Caption of Vehicles at Columbus Park in San Jose Calif on Tuesday July Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group Expand In its last attempt to clear the encampment San Jose failed to secure the site leading to unhoused residents and RVs overrunning the fields and basketball courts once again Parks Recreation and Neighborhood Services spokesperson Amanda Rodriguez disclosed this time the city will create a no-encampment zone at the park after the abatement is complete estimated to be around the end of October and install concrete k-rail and fencing to allow the pre-construction initiatives to begin and keep the citizens safe Questions remain however about what will happen to the people living there Rodriguez revealed that as of July approximately people an estimate Davis and homeless advocates scoffed at calling it an undercount were living at Columbus Park Rodriguez reported the city is prioritizing beds at the new Taylor Street Navigation Hub which will open tents this month along with units in converted motels and other shelter sites for individuals and families For months city-contracted outreach teams have been visiting Columbus Park to build trust connect people to services and enroll individuals and families in the Homeless Management Information System HMIS Rodriguez explained But numerous residents living at the park and homeless advocates doubt the the city s plan will work because of prior poor experiences Danielle Jackson speaks to The Mercury News near Columbus Park in San Jose Calif on Tuesday July Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group Danielle stated she was forced to leave interim housing and had her arrangement animals taken from her despite being legally blind Tearing up Jackson commented it sowed such a deep level of distrust that she would not accept an offer of housing even if offered I can t trust none of these organizations that are supposed to be out here to help me because they re not helping me so I might as well just stay out here and just continue to help myself like this because it hurts Jackson stated Robert Gilman a -year-old who has lived at Columbus Park for the past year and a half also noted a disconnect between the outreach offered and the necessities expressed by unhoused residents Like the countless members of the LGBTQ locality who are right now at the park he commented he is concerned about finding a place away from the threats and harassment he has previously been forced to endure There s no safe space for LGBTQ members and there requirements to be safer places where we can be where we know our neighbors and know our group Gilman reported Those of us who are part of the LGBTQ neighborhood out here know each other and we advocacy each other and we find little means to help each other but we need more help from the organizations that are truly supposed to be there for us We see very little outreach and it s sad San Jose has touted the possible to add up to placements in its shelter system through hotel and motel conversions safe parking and safe sleeping sites and tiny home communities But homeless advocate Shaunn Cartwright argues that the city should delay its sweeps until more of those units come online noting that dispersing the unhoused will make it more challenging to connect them with services in the future Shaunn Cartwright left with the Unhoused Response Group speaks with Robert Gilman at Columbus Park in San Jose Calif on Tuesday July Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group This makes no sense and doing it intentionally when sites aren t open you are intentionally being cruel and could make the situation worse Cartwright disclosed Cartwright envisions a situation similar to when San Jose began abating RVs on general streets in January and created more mini-encampments in neighborhoods which residents likened to a whack-a-mole encounter In anticipation of that occurring Rodriguez mentioned the city was exploring a voluntary RV buyback undertaking to reduce the number of vehicles that may relocate into surrounding areas and would monitor areas where people relocated in the past and proactively prevent new congregations of RVs from forming in the surrounding neighborhoods While countless residents at Columbus Park do not feel supported by the city a coalition of homeless advocacy organizations has helped them form their own area group Guadalupe Residents Advocating for Society Engagement GRACE to secure better conditions and protect their rights when the sweep eventually comes this month The city of San Francisco settled a lawsuit for million over rights violations of unhoused individuals who are in an encampment that got cleared and we re anticipating that similar things could happen here revealed John Froggatt an attorney with the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley